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Text on a curved hill – how to generate its shadow down the hill
Hello
I have text that rises up behind a curved hill. I need to create its shadow casting down the hill as the text rises. To complicate matters after the text rises to show the word “change” I animate space opening up between the letter “a” and “n” to allow the new word to become Challenge.- This is driving me crazy.
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2 Replies
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There’s a plugin sold by Red Giant that may help you, it’s called real shadows: link
But essentially, I believe you just need some procedural blur (Iris blur can do that with a matte) tint it to black, and add some distortion matching your ground curve.
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The way to do the shadow without a plugin – which will take longer than the plugin – is to duplicate the text layer, apply a drop shadow, turn on the “Shadow Only” switch in the drop shadow, then flip it so that it looks like a straight, flat shadow. Then apply various distortions so that it looks as if its following the hill contours. One way you can enhance the reality a bit is by making the shadow fall off in opacity as it gets toward the bottom of the hill.
But as Cassuis said, there are simpler ways, but they cost money. Built in to AE is Image Lounge Real Shadows. This might do the trick, although it’s not immediately intuitive to use. The Red Giant plugin is called Warp, and it includes some very nice perspective, pinning, and shadow capabilities for 99 dollars:
https://www.redgiantsoftware.com/products/all/rgwarp/#tabs
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com
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